Paul Smith to open store at Coal Drops Yard
Fashion designer Paul Smith is to open a store at the new Coal Drops Yard shopping quarter in London’s King’s Cross as part of its global expansion plans.
Due to open in October, the store will be designed by an in-house team to reflect the local surroundings.
The company said the shop will feature a series of “exciting” spaces that combine modern features with the listed architecture of the scheme.
The men’s suiting room will be covered in thousands of Japanese 1 Yen coins in a nod to Smith’s longstanding relationship with Japan. Meanwhile, the room dedicated to women’s clothing will be a striking “blue tunnel” with a rubberised playground floor.
The rear room of the shop will reflect Smith’s history as a shopkeeper in Nottingham where he would always present something new and interesting to local customers. The space will feature a rotation of store concepts, ranging from the brand’s exclusive Japanese Red Ear collection to product launches linked with events in the city such as Design Week and Frieze, as the brand looks to create a contemporary version of a local shop.
Smith said: “As a man who’s travelled in and out of King’s Cross and St Pancras for many years and seen it change from a very run-down and sad area to become a vibrant and beautifully restored part of the city, it’s with great excitement that I’m opening a new shop there later in the year.”
Due to launch in the autumn and designed by Heatherwick Studio, Coal Drops Yard combines a striking contemporary design with the surviving grand brick viaducts, cobbled streets and an ironwork of the Victorian Coal Drops that were situated on the site.
The scheme will be home to a mix of established and emerging retailers as well as cafés, bars, restaurants and public spaces.
Craig White, project director at Argent, said: “When we began the Coal Drops Yard project, Paul Smith was one of our muses – his classic style with a twist has informed our approach to identifying our ideal partners, and is indeed mirrored in Heatherwick Studio’s reimagining of the Victorian coal drops themselves. His signing is a magnificent addition to the scheme, and we look forward to welcoming shoppers to the store when it opens later this year.”
The scheme is situated adjacent to Granary Square, near King’s Cross and St Pancras International stations, and forms a key part of the wider regeneration of the area.
